After traveling through time, I led the whole village to become rich!

The making of vermicelli was handed over to the villagers, and later Zhang Hulan focused on brewing wine.

The process of making wine with lotus roots is similar to that of making wine with grains. Cut the lotus roots into pieces and steam them in a pot. Then let them cool and mix them with koji for fermentation and distillation. The only difference is the fermentation time and the koji used.

In mid-February, Wang Xingren took Zhang Dahua back to Changning County, and Xiang Chunhua also returned with them.

After Xiang Chunhua came back, Zhang Hubing held a full-moon banquet for his youngest son, and the Zhang family became lively again.

Wang Xingren found Zhang Hulan and said to her somewhat embarrassedly, "Aunt, can I discuss something with you?"

Zhang Hulan asked, "What's the matter?"

Wang Xingren said, "Aunt, I want Dahua to stay with me and help me with business matters."

Zhang Hulan laughed and said, "If I don't agree, you'll definitely curse me in your heart, right? Forget it, I won't be the bad guy anymore. It just so happens that I save dozens of taels of silver a year."

Both Wang Xingren and Zhang Dahua felt a little embarrassed by Zhang Hulan's gaze.

Zhang Hulan then said to Wang Xingren, "Now that you're here, I have something to ask you. I'm making wine now. Do you want to start a wine business?"

"How's Auntie's wine? Is it brewed?"

“The wine hasn’t been brewed yet, but it will be ready soon, and we’ll be able to produce it by the end of the month.

The quality of the wine is definitely better than what's on the market. If you're interested, I'll sell you all the wine I brew.

Anyway, you have businesses in various places, so you can open a liquor store in various places and do business at the same time."

Wang Xingren immediately said, "No problem. I'll buy all the wine that Auntie brews."

Zhang Hulan said, "Don't agree too quickly. This is not cheap. It's much more expensive than the wine on the market."

Nowadays, the cheapest wine on the market costs thirty cents per catty, and the most expensive one costs four or five hundred cents per catty.

Of course there are more expensive ones. The wines drunk by the dignitaries are the best, costing several taels of silver per pound.

Wang Xingren said, "Then we can discuss the price after Auntie's wine is brewed."

Zhang Hulan nodded, "Okay."

By the end of February, the mash had been fermenting for twenty days and it was time to start distilling the wine.

If you want the wine to taste better, Zhang Hulan doesn't have high requirements for the first batch of wine, so you can brew a batch first to see how it goes.

When the first sip of wine came out, Old Man Zhang, Zhang Hujun and Zhang Hubing were already drooling at the aroma of the wine.

The aroma of this wine was better than any wine they had drunk before.

Wang Xingren also said that this was comparable to the best wine he had ever tasted.

But Zhang Hulan poured out the first swig of wine. Zhang Hubing asked anxiously, "Sister, why did you pour out the wine?"

Zhang Hulan said, "Don't drink the first wine, it's harmful to your health."

Zhang Hulan didn't say it was poisonous, otherwise they wouldn't dare drink it.

When the wine came out, Zhang Hulan took some in a bowl and handed it to Old Man Zhang. "Dad, how about this wine?"

Old man Zhang took the bowl and drank it in one gulp.

"Dad, please slow down..."

But it was too late for Zhang Hulan to say that. After Old Man Zhang took a gulp of wine, he felt as if his throat and chest were burning with fire.

Old man Zhang's face quickly turned red, and he exhaled a breath of alcohol after a long time, "Daniel, why is this wine so strong?"

Zhang Hujun and Zhang Hubing heard their father say that the wine was strong, so they took some to taste it, and then they almost choked on the wine.

Wang Xingren also tasted it, and then his eyes lit up, "Auntie, your wine..."

Zhang Hulan explained with a smile: "This newly brewed wine has not been aged yet, so it is naturally stronger.

If you leave it for a while longer, the taste will become more mellow and smooth.”

Wang Xingren said, "No wonder Auntie said the price is much higher. If this wine were put on the market, it would cost at least two taels of silver per catty."

When Zhang Hujun and Zhang Hubing heard that it would cost two taels of silver per catty, their eyes widened. They knew in their hearts that Zhang Hulan was going to get rich, a huge fortune.

Zhang Hulan looked at it for a while, then threw it to Zhang Hujun.

She looked at Wang Xingren and asked, "How about we go and talk?"

"it is good!"

Wang Xingren and Zhang Dahua followed Zhang Hulan into the house. After they sat down, Zhang Hulan said, "Xingren, I'm just getting started. I'll make better wine in the future. Let's talk about the price."

Wang Xingren said, "Auntie, just name the price."

Zhang Hulan said, "For this kind of wine, I'll give you one ounce of silver per pound. I won't take care of the delivery, you can have someone come to your house to pick it up yourself."

This is probably the worst wine. We will negotiate the price for better quality wine later.

I will only sell this wine to you and not to anyone else.

"If you buy this wine, you can store it for a while. It will taste even better after six months or a year. The longer it's stored, the better it tastes."

"Okay!" Wang Xingren agreed immediately.

Zhang Hulan then asked, "Are you planning to open your own liquor store or sell wholesale to other liquor stores?"

Wang Xingren said, "Open your own wine shop."

Zhang Hulan nodded, and then said, "I will design some special bottles for the good wines I will release later.

One bottle holds one kilogram, and the bottle is designed to look nice.

Just one look at the bottle gives you a feeling of luxury and wealth; it's not something that ordinary people can afford."

Wang Xingren asked, "Aunt, are you saying that these wines are sold exclusively to wealthy families?"

Zhang Hulan nodded, "Yes, the price of this wine will be very expensive, and the quality of the wine will naturally be the best.

A bottle of this kind of wine costs at least dozens of taels of silver.

I'll give you the wholesale price. One bottle will cost more than ten or twenty taels.

If you sell it retail in your wine shop, you'll have to pay thirty to fifty taels per bottle."

Wang Xingren gradually felt that his wife's aunt was a bit cruel. A bottle of wine weighing one kilogram was sold for thirty or fifty taels. Even the tribute wine from the imperial palace was not so expensive, right?

Wang Xingren asked uncertainly, "Aunt, can this wine be sold?"

Zhang Hulan smiled and said, "There is nothing that cannot be sold, only people who don't know how to sell things.

As long as you know how to sell it, you can sell it even if the price doubles.

Wait until I brew high-quality wine, and then you can taste it and decide. If you don’t want to sell it, I will open my own wine shop in the capital."

Wang Xingren asked, "If you can sell it yourself, why did you sell it to me?"

Zhang Hulan said: "I don't have that much time, and I feel at ease selling the wine to you.

If I were to sell it myself, or wholesale it to other liquor stores, it would be a hassle. There are too many people who are obsessed with money, and I don't want to bother with it.

When I sell wine to you, others will just think that the wine is from your family and they won't dare to covet it.

To put it bluntly, I just pulled you in front to take the bullet for me."

"Aunt, do you have to be so direct?" Wang Xingren wanted to complain.

Zhang Hulan smiled and said, "We are all family, there is no need to hide anything, right?

Our profits from this wine are almost the same. I need raw materials, labor and technology.

Our costs for setting up the store and selling the goods are similar."

Zhang Hulan coughed dryly, then continued, "Actually, I can sell you this winemaking technology, but I'm just worried you can't come up with that much money."

With this wine-making technology, it is no exaggeration to say that it can be sold for hundreds of thousands to millions of taels of silver.